/GSRW, May 16, 01/ - In reply to an inquiry of parliamentarians who held a field session of the Environmental Committee in Atyrau, the director general of Tengizchevroil announced that, based on the current estimates, recoverable reserves at Tengiz stand at 750-1,125m tonnes of oil (6-9bn barrels). Predictable oil reserves are estimated at 3,133m tonnes (25bn barrels). The reservoir is 19km wide and 21km long.

After the TCO's production facilities were expanded last year, oil production grew by an average of 30%, and came to 12m tonnes per year (260,000 barrels per day).

In October 1999, a new record average production of 35,854 tonnes per month was reached. However, the average flow rate will remain at 260,000 barrels per day for a considerably long time due to the currently planned stoppages.